The scene outside Nelson Mandela's house: a panoramic view

The scene outside Mandela's house, captured from the heart of the
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By Lewis Whyld and Joel Gunter

1:26PM GMT 10 Dec 2013

Outside Nelson Mandela’s house in the Johannesburg suburb of Houghton, where he died on Thursday night last week, crowds of people gathered to celebrate the life of the former South African president.

People of all ages and races danced and sang, congregating around two small paintings of Mandela placed on the floor at the centre of the crossroads. They released white doves which flew above the crowds. Around them, vans belonging to the world's media lined the streets.

Mandela’s body was removed from the house in the early hours of Friday morning in a coffin draped with the South African flag. The stretch of road directly outside the house was cordoned off by police but the celebrations went on undiminished a short distance away.

Accompanied by a large police escort, his body was taken to Pretoria's main military hospital, where it will remain as ten days of national mourning get underway.

Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg are also attending the ceremony, along with three former British prime ministers, Sir John Major, Tony Blair, and Gordon Brown.

After the ceremony, Mandela’s body will spend three days lying in state at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, the setting for his presidential inauguration in 1994. It will then be flown to the small village of Qunu, where Mandela grew up, for a funeral ceremony on Sunday.